Yves Monette, a 62-year-old has spent the last couple years seeing and engaging with legislators and doctors, not to request them to help save his life, but to have the law revised so that he can die in peace.
Yves, formerly a prison guard, martial arts enthusiast, and security expert, was denied the right to die through medical assistance because he did not satisfy federal law.
However, in April of 2021, after the law was amended, he was given permission to end his life and will receive that help from a doctor this Wednesday.
Hi doctor, Laurent Boisvert, says that he is among the first few Quebecers to be allowed to end their lives through medical assistance.
About three years back, doctors diagnosed Monette with a neurological condition that will finally leave him permanently demented.
Boisvert says that his condition will cause progressive degeneration because it affects the frontal lobe, which would affect his memory. If he left home to go out, he would not remember how to get back.
This personal decision, described as emotional but not well thought through, wasn’t really supported by law, because it was argued that his death would not happen in the foreseeable future.
However, the court ruled that the foreseeability of natural death and end of life criteria are unconstitutional. It thus gave the government several extensions to comply with the ruling of 2019.
This meant that Monette and others who aren’t close to death but are suffering incurable illnesses can seek medical help in dying.
The process will take place at the Charles-Le Moyne health facility since Monette signed as an organ donor.
